Gould on fire as Piarsaigh foil brave Bride bid

THE final scoreline was emphatic enough, but Na Piarsaigh still had to call on all their resources to overcome a resilient Bride Rovers in the first round of the Cork County senior hurling championship at Watergrasshill last evening.

The city team opened in whirlwind fashion with a goal on five minutes from John Gardiner, and after enjoying the bulk of the play in the first 30 minutes they chalked up a deserving interval lead of eight points. However, once the Rathcormac side began to peg them back in the second half, Na Piarsaigh had to up their game considerably in the closing stages in order to make sure of the win.

The key to Piarsaigh’s dominance in the first 30 minutes was some brave defending. Along with Sean Óg Ó hAilpín who was very comfortable at wing back, another major plus was the polished display of Christopher Joyce at centre back. He was excellent in the pivot and constantly brought direction to the Na Piarsaigh play. Consequently, they were quickly off the mark when John Gardiner, who started at full forward (moved to centre forward), bagged a goal almost out of nothing; his perfectly aimed ground shot from right on the end line flew low to the corner of the net.